Bottle seal and filter



Feb. 19, 1952 w. JORDAN 2,585,938

BOTTLE SEAL AND FILTER Filed May 11 1949 INVENTOR. LAWRENCE W JoRaA/v 77% M 210W nrronfreys Patented Feb. 19 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,585,938 V BOTTLE SEAL AND FILTER Lawrence W. Jordan, Bay Village, Ohio Application May 11, 1949, Serial No. 92,583

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in a bottle seal and filter. 7

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a novel seal and filter to be used in connection with a bottle or other container in which sterile blood is kept for administration in a blood transfusion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a bottle seal combined with a filter wherein the inside of the bottle, the seal and the filter may be sterilized and may be filled and emptied while all of the parts remain sterile.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and description and the essential features will be set forth in the appended claims.

' In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a fragmental top plan view of a bottle equipped With my improved seal;

Fig. 2 is an exploded view showing the various parts necessary to make a complete seal according to my teachings and equipped for shipping and storage before use;

Fig. 3 is a fragmental top plan view of the. stopper and a portion of the bottle with the protective cap removed, this view being taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental sectional view taken along-the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; while Fig. 5 is a fragmental sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Heretofore it has been difiicult to maintain sterility in both the blood container and the filter used to filter the blood during a transfusion, and therefore filters have been incorporated in the administration set only or a'risk of contamina-' tion has been run when inserting a filter into the blood storage bottle.

The present invention has been shown as applied to a glass bottle ll] of the type ordinarily used for this work. A stopper ll of rubber-like material is utilized to close the neck of the essarily, the outer face of the flange portion llb is cylindrical in form as clearly shown in Fig. 2 and the neck of the bottle converges slightly inwardly from the mouth of the bottle as clearly shown in Fig. 4. It results from this construction that the flange portion llb is squeezed radially inwardly as the cork is pushed into the bottle which causes the top portion 1 I to become slightly convex in the center thereof. Then when the top cap is pulled down tight, the compression in the center of the cap causes the flange llb to press tightly against the neck of the bottle.

Means is provided for holding a filter on the inner face of the stopper so as to extend into the body. Ill. The means here shown comprises the formation of a cylindrical well He in a thickened portion of the annular flange l lb which is indicated at l Id in Fig. 5. In one form of my invention, the outside diameter across the flange portion llb is between one and one-sixteenth and one and one-eighth inches. The thickness of the annular flange llb is approximately oneeighth of an inch which leaves an internal diameter across the flange llb of approximately thirteen-sixteenths of an inch. The circular well He is then about five-sixteenths to threeeighths of an inch in diameter. An elongated hollow filter I3 is then secured in the cylindrical well He as by sealing material inserted at M. The filter I3 may be of any suitable variety, but I prefer to use a filter woven of a synthetic resin in a hollow tube form, one end of which has a cylindrical outside diameter slightly less than the diameter of the cylindrical recess He and.

the other end of which is clipped together by means of a clip I5 so as to close that end entirely. To hold the stopper |I rather permanently on the bottle [0, I provide a metal holder [6 having a circular top and depending sides I6a which are spun at IGb beneath a glass ring 10a around the outside of the neck of the bottle. The top of this retainer has an annular portion I which surrounds a central opening [611 through which a blood administration set needle may penetrate the stopper II. The bottle and stopper thus far described is as it is intended for use, but for shipping and storage I add other parts as follows. As shown in Fig. 2, I place a fiat uninterrupted circular disc I! on top of the retaining ring I 6 and over this is secured a cup-shaped cap [8. The lowermost skirt l8a of this cap is spun under the glass ring Illa or the parallel ring lob on the neck of the bottle Ill. The central portion of the cap I8 is nearly perforated around a generally circular ring l9 and a weakened strip 20 is connected with the tab 2| in the central top portion of the cap, the weakening lines 22 pref- 6 erably extending down the side walls of the ca? 3 l8. It is thus easy to pick up the tab 2| and to tear along the weakening lines 22 so as to partially destroy and remove the cap is when the bottle is to be used for a. transfusion.

It is intended that the bottle, the stopper II, and the filter I3 should be made and assembled in the form shown in Fig. 4 with a completely sterile interior portion of all of the parts. The bottle is then filled with blood by penetrating the cap II with a needle in the crescent shaped area marked D in Fig. 3 where an indicating line 23 on the top of the stopper indicates the crescent shaped chamber 24 inside of the stopper and externally of the part lld which embraces the mouth of the filter.

The rubber-like material of the stopper II is so chosen that when penetrated by a needle or the usual type, the rubber-like material of the cap will immediately close after the needle has been withdrawn so as to maintain the contents of the bottle sterile. To this end, I prefer to use a durometer hardness of approximately 45 to 50 for the rubber-like material of the stopper. I may use a durometer as soft as 40, but this is a little too soft for the purpose. When the contents of the bottle are to be dispensed to a recipient, an administration set needle 25 connected to the end of a tube 26 is inserted through the rubber-like material of the cap ll through the area designated at R in Fig. 3. An indicating circle 21 is formed on the rubber-like material of the stopper registering with the cylindrical opening lie on the inside of the stopper, so that the technician may know the proper place to insert the needle so that it will enter the hollow mid portion of the'filter i3.

The use of my device should now be apparent.

A sterilized bottle 10 is equipped with a sterile stopper H which in turn carries a sterile filter l3. The holding ring i6 is spun into place and then the protecting cap [8 is placed over this with a disc l1 between caps l8 and 16 to further protect the rubber stopper. When the bottle is to be used, the tab 2! is picked'up, the weakened portion 20 is torn across the top and down the sides so that the cap I B'may be entirely removed. The blood from a donor is then transferred from the donor to the interior of the bottle 10 using a needle which penetrates the area D leading to the interior of the bottle. When the needle is withdrawn, the contents .of the bottle are sealed. When the blood is to be transferred to a recipient, the administration set needle 25 is inserted through the area indicated at R. in Fig. 3 after which the blood will fiow out of the bottle 'being first filtered through the filter 13.

One of the advantages of my invention is that it maintains the sterility within the bottle both before and after the collection of the blood and during the administration of the same.

If desired, a coarse filter maybe used inside of the bottle to give a primary filtration and a fine filter may be used in the administration set for a secondary filtering, thus giving a better filtration without the clotting of the filter which ordinarily takes place when just one filter is used.

The venting of the bottle 10 during the administration of the blood may be accomplished by a venting needle in the administration set as shown in the copending application of Lager, Serial No. 770,074, filed August 22, 1947, .now Patent No. 2,473,153 dated June 14, 1949, or a special venting needle may be placed through the cap H in the area-24.

Because the bubbling of the venting air through the blood in the bottle [0 is sometimes disadvantageous, I may provide as a modification annother manner of venting the bottle. To this end, a glass tube 28 is placed in a recess 29 on the under side of the stopper, the glass tube being substantially the full length of the bottle so that it reaches almost to the uppermost end of the bottle when the same is in the transfusion position of Fig. 4. The glass tube 28 thus provides a hollow vent tube having an open end near the wall of the container opposite the stopper and having an open mouth substantially sealed around its periphery in the recess 29 to the inner face of the stopper wall. Preferably, the depth of the recess or well 29 is approximately the same as that of the cylindrical well ,l lc previously described. This leaves an outer wall thickness of the stopper to be penetrated by a venting needle in an easy manner. The exposed face of the stopper may carry a designating circle 30 registering with the opening of the glass tube 28 50 that the operator will know where to insert the venting needle. This area is indicated as V in Fig. 3. In this form of my invention, the needle for transmitting the blood to the recipient is inserted through the circle 21, marked R on Fig. 3, and the venting needle is inserted through the circle marked V. In this case,t he-venting air does not pass through the blood but instead passes through the glass tube 28 to the upper portion of the bottle in its upturned position as shown in Fig. 4.

What I claim is:

1.-Inapp1atratus or the storage and transfusion of blood including a container having a single opening and a stopper for completely sealing said opening, the-combination therewith of a stopper .of resilient material such as rubber having a wall extending uninterruptedly across said opening, said wa'l11being of a thickness-and hardness adapted to be penetrated by a needle and self-sealing when the needle is withdrawn, a hollow filter having a closed end inside of the container and having an open mouth sealed around its peripheryto the inner face of said wall, ,indicia ,on the outer face of said wall reg istering with saidopen mouthmeans for venting the container when the-contents are removed, there being a recess on the inner 'face of said wall laterally spewed {from said filter and independent of said .venting means and said-recess communicating .directly with the interior of said container near-the stopper whereby said c n ai e .r y h l l ed in a sterile n r b i e t n .a-need e th ou h sai Wallinto d recess, and said container may be emptied in a sterile manner by inserting a needle through said wall into the ,open mouth of said filter.

2.1mm c m i at n of c m 1 e in said containeris a bottle having a generally cylindric l neck term a n in a r l r p in lying ina plane, and saidstopper has a portion of said-first amed wall extending over and enga'gingthe end of the neck of said bottle-in said plane to iorm a top seal "therewith, said stopper hav'ihg .an integral-annular skirt, portion at right anglesto said first named wall engaging the inner 'all of said .neck uninterruptedly around the {Sahi 1-1 form .a side seal therewith, the in side {walls of-saidmeck spaced inwardly from said Qpen naheiae o les d am e tha h u id diameters? the as oc at d p t q o s irt portion whereby said portion is squeezed radially inwardly when the stopper is inserted in said neck causing said first named wall to become convex outwardly when unconstrained, and a ring secured to said bottle and engaging the outer face of said first named wall and holding the same substantially flat, whereby the resilient material of said stopper in said first named wall is slightly compressed, and said skirt is urged tightly against the inside walls of said neck.

LAWRENCE W. JORDAN.

REFERENCES CITED Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Biehn Apr. 25, 1922 Paisley et a1 Nov. 30, 1937 Falk Feb. 15, 1938 Trotter Feb. 11, 1941 Ross Mar. 17, 1942 Diggs Feb. 10, 1948 Cutter et a1 Mar. 23, 1948 Gee Mar. 15, 1949 Page May 24, 1949 

